X’s deepfake machine is infuriating policymakers around the globe
X’s deepfake machine is infuriating policymakers around the globe

X’s Grok chatbot hasn’t stopped accepting users’ requests to strip down women and, in some cases, apparent minors to AI-generated bikinis. According to some reports, the flood of AI-generated images includes more extreme content that potentially violates laws against nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Even in the US, where X […]

Measles And Flu Hit New Highs As Trump Administration Hammers Vaccines

In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we look at a former Wall Street analyst’s $4 billion obesity drug company, Wegovy’s weight-loss pill, and more.

The man who made India digital isn’t done yet
The man who made India digital isn’t done yet

Nandan Nilekani can’t stop trying to push India into the future. He started nearly 30 years ago, masterminding an ongoing experiment in technological state capacity that started with Aadhaar—the world’s largest digital identity system. Aadhaar means “foundation” in Hindi, and on that bedrock Nilekani and people working with him went on to build a sprawling…

Jake Sullivan is furious that Trump destroyed his AI foreign policy
Jake Sullivan is furious that Trump destroyed his AI foreign policy

Hello and welcome to Regulator, a newsletter for Verge subscribers about Big Tech, Big Government, and the big paradigm shifts that result from their collision. Not a subscriber yet? It’s a new year, so why not treat yourself? In 2022, Jake Sullivan, then national security adviser under President Joe Biden and a powerful figure in […]

Influencer content is fuel for an internet-obsessed administration
Influencer content is fuel for an internet-obsessed administration

Just a day after publishing a 40-minute video alleging fraud at Minnesota daycare centers, Nick Shirley had the vice president’s attention. In Shirley’s video, he and another man identified only as “David” roam Minneapolis with cameras and microphones, demanding entrance to daycare centers they say are operated by members of the local Somali community. With […]

Grok is undressing children — can the law stop it?
Grok is undressing children — can the law stop it?

Grok began 2026 as it began 2025: under fire for its AI-generated images. Elon Musk’s chatbot has spent the last week flooding X with nonconsensual, sexualized deepfakes of adults and minors. Circulating screenshots show Grok complying with requests to put real women in lingerie and make them spread their legs, and to put small children […]

Europe’s drone-filled vision for the future of war
Europe’s drone-filled vision for the future of war

Last spring, 3,000 British soldiers of the 4th Light Brigade, also known as the Black Rats, descended upon the damp forests of Estonia’s eastern territories. They had rushed in from Yorkshire by air, sea, rail, and road. Once there, the Rats joined 14,000 other troops at the front line, dug in, and waited for the…

Good Day Sunshine: Solar’s Relentless Rise

This week’s Current Climate newsletter also looks at Elon Musk’s year of big blunders and payday bonanzas and some progress for green hydrogen

Someone made a ton of money betting on Maduro’s capture
Someone made a ton of money betting on Maduro’s capture

Shortly before the US military launched an attack on Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, an account on Polymarket made some very suspiciously timed investments. The prediction market had been running bets on when or if Maduro would be removed from power, with prices for “out by January 31, 2026” as low as $0.07 late […]

The Trump phone just missed another release date
The Trump phone just missed another release date

Where’s the Trump Phone? We’re going to keep talking about it every week. We’ve reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump Phone’s whereabouts. As usual, we’re still waiting for a response. In the meantime, it’s missed yet another of its promised release dates. When we started writing about Trump Mobile regularly, it all […]